Amazon pulls MacMillan?

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

<snark>They could always sell through Webscriptions again</snark>

Honestly, I think the complete absence of clue about e-books Macmillan demonstrated in that incident was what made them such a ripe target for Apple.

[Barcey]

John Sargent's letter to author's is posted here. It explains Macmillan's side.

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/

[tompe]

Originally Posted by rpresser

What exactly is the difference between an "e-book of a hardcover" and an "e-book of a paperback", when both are the SAME content, probably generated from the same digital file being sent to the printer?

The paperback edition is not exactly the same text as the hardcover edition. More error have usually been fixed in the paperback edition.

[BWhite]

Originally Posted by Barcey

John Sargent's letter to author's is posted here. It explains Macmillan's side.

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/

This letter is a good read people, I think you should go read it.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by BWhite

This letter is a good read people, I think you should go read it.

Pretty fascinating. Reminds me a bit of NBC Universal's decision to pull TV shows out of the iTunes Store, and Universal Music doing the same with music.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by Barcey

John Sargent's letter to author's is posted here. It explains Macmillan's side.

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/

What's irritating to me: "Amazon is one of our best customers."

READERS ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

What's irritating to me: "Amazon is one of our best customers."

READERS ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS.

lol, exactly...although this was addressed to authors, illustrators, and agents :P

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

A war which Macmilian started by demanding control of the prices they set, or Amazon's ebook business could go swing. No, no sympathy for Macmilian in this now from me. Got a clause about recovering rights if they do this sort of thing? (I certainly have for the pnp RPG work I've done). If not, no direct sympathy for you either - just the advice to look to including it in future.

And you think any author (except maybe Rowling) can get a clause reverting rights if the publisher and one particular book distributor have a falling out? Not gonna happen. Perhaps your experience with RPG contracts gives you a misleading view of how book contracts work.

Not to mention that it would be stupid to try to pull rights to a book just because one retailer decided to pull something like this. What are you going to do with those rights? Who's going to buy them?

[jgaiser]

Somebody is going to lose customers.

Somebody is going to blink first.

Only time will tell.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by kjk

lol, exactly...although this was addressed to authors, illustrators, and agents :P

I realize that, but I don't see how it effects that statement. Amazon is not a customer. They are a reseller. Also, that letter was pretty poorly written. In particular I can't make sense of this sentence: "The price will be set the price for each book individually."


I'm sorry, but there is absolutely NO justification in charging $14.99 for an ebook that was a direct release into mass market paperback. They did this with Lisa Kleypas' "Tempt Me at Twilight" and I wrote them a nastygram about it. And if you read that letter closely, that's exactly the practice he wants to continue.

[tapar]

Very interesting letter! It is amazing how open and public this whole thing is, I suppose that is just part of the internet age. I am now definitively on Amazon's side. I feel like Amazon is trying to defend eBooks from stupidity at this point.

I don't want lame "deep windowing of titles". One of the big draws for me is the convenience of eBooks. I have bought _WAY_ more books in the past year than I had in the previous 10 years...all because it was easy to do and was priced fairly reasonably. It still feels a bit off to pay 10 bucks for an eBook when they don't have any physical production costs. It really bothers me when really old books are priced crazy high, but I just don't buy those ones.

I can't help but think that Amazon realizes that it is so easy to find pirate books that if 'deep windowing' were to become common, many people would turn to piracy to avoid the delay. Not having them available right away would be practically an invitation to pirate to many people.

I am not sure that pricing the eBooks at $15 would drive people to pirate, but I am sure it wouldn't help. I can say for sure it would have a chilling effect on my eBook purchases and that I would buy less books. I hate the idea of upping the price of eBooks, but I do think it is less stupid than trying to put in artificial time windows on releases.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by starrigger

And you think any author (except maybe Rowling) can get a clause reverting rights if the publisher and one particular book distributor have a falling out? Not gonna happen. Perhaps your experience with RPG contracts gives you a misleading view of how book contracts work.

Then don't sign. You chose, and you have to deal with the consequences of your choice. Sure, that might rule out the major book companies, but they are not the only people to sign and distribute books: and shelf inches are not important for ebooks.

Macmillan's grab to control book pricing is a move straight from the Net Book Agreement. Tou're entirely entitled to claim your side and you've clearly done so. I won't buy your books, of course, which is my right.

[MerLock]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Personally, I could handle it if they set the default e-price for new-release hardcovers to $15, that's what Baen does with their E-Arcs. However, if they're setting e-books of hardcovers to $15 then they should set e-books of paperbacks closer to $5.

I've rarely felt ripped off by the e-price of a book that's still in hardcover, because even when dead tree is discounted and cheaper, the e-version is usually at least lower than list. It's when the e-version is damn near double the list price of dead tree, like a $15 e-book for a $7 or $8 paperback that I get angry.

Sure does look interesting though.

I agree!

I'm okay with them charging $9.99 or even $14.99 at initial release only if they can guarantee that after 6 - 12 months that the price drops to 50% of mass paperback. If I really want the book sooner, I'm willing to pay more money like the hard cover edition. With this pricing model, I feel less that I'm being taken advantage of because I have the option of paying a cheaper price 6 to 12 months later. Even though the publishers may not agree, I feel this model is fair for both them and the consumer.

A lot of people may disagree with me since value is a subjective term. But I already feel angry and cheated with $9.99 books. If you look at hardcover, trade paperback, mass paperback, it all scales in price. You pay more for hardcover because you get a nice big hardcover book, you pay more for trade paperback because it's on nicer paper and so on.

What do I get for a digital ebook? Just a digital copy not even printed on paper. Unless I own a nook, I can't loan it out to a friend. I can't even sell it to a used bookstore or donate it to the library.

Does pricing structure makes sense for the paper versions but there seems to be a premium for ebooks even though I see the value in them as less than mass paperback. In my opinion, they should cost 50% of mass paperback.

[JSWolf]

I blame Apple for this.

[Alisa]

I think the basic 70/30 model is fair. Amazon apparently does as well. I think MacMillan are fools if they believe $15 is the optimum price. I think they'll lose more sales than they'll make up for with the increased margin. Maybe the absolute best selling authors might get more this way but I'm betting the vast majority of titles will do far worse. Amazon picked the $9.99 price for a good reason. They didn't pick it out of thin air.

A reasonable ebook price will capture a lot more sales. The margin will be lower than hardbacks but better than paperbacks. Books I would have put off buying until paperback, I buy now at $9.99. The price difference isn't big enough for me to wait. Plus, I didn't end up buying many of the books I put off in the past. I'd tell myself I'd look for it later and then I'd forget. The longer people wait after release, the less likely they'll buy. The marketing wears off. They move on to other things or they get the book somewhere else. Maybe piracy, or maybe the library, a used book shop or a friend. All ways they get no money.